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September 11, 2008
A penny for your... kitchen floor??
We are doing a major renovation and running out of money in a big way.
Basically all we can afford in our new kitchen are appliances.
But I am charged with looking for flooring ideas as my husband seems to think that the flooring material type will dictate what we do in a temporary floor.
Could you give me some insight on the flooring you have with stainless appliances? What do you like about your choice?
I wanted re-claimed terra cotta tile, but a design friend of ours remarked that tile in a bigger kitchen screams butcher shop.
Thoughts and photos welcome.
Brooklyn soon to be 11210
Comments
I have a very modern kitchen in a (devoid of detail) brownstone. I used plain old linoleum. Cheap, easy to clean and looks appropriately neutral in an area where there's a lot going on visually.
Posted by: Johnny at September 12, 2008 9:24 AM
I strongly recommend cork or some other "soft floor". Tiles or stone will be very hard on your legs and feet, especially if you like to cook and will be on your feet in the kitchen for hours at a time. I have granite tiles, which are lovely, but after days of cooking during the holidays, my legs kill me.
Posted by: Schultz at September 12, 2008 9:28 AM
Schultz is right - tile floors are killers if you expect to spend any time standing on them.
I wouldn't make your flooring decision based on your appliances. Your better off picking a style appropriate for your home or style of the room. You'll likely have your floor for much longer than the appliances. But I do agree with your friend about terracotta floor if you're talking about the ceramic or porcelain tile that is finished as a faux terra cotta - I think most ceramic and porcelain tile that is meant to look like something else looks very commercial in a residential setting. If your set on tile, something like a single color slate or other matte stone looks very sharp with a lot of different styles. Or even a simple hex tile can look very vintage chic if in the right room.
Hope that helps!
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at September 12, 2008 10:06 AM
What about just a wood floor? Maybe do a wide-plank wood for a farmhouse kitchen look. You could use reclaimed wood. Wood floors look less institutional than tiles, in a large kitchen.
I'm also a fan of the reintroduced TRUE linoleum as it was originally manufactured decades ago, in vintage colors and patterns. It's "green" (made from linseed). Don't do vinyl linoleum though.
Posted by: traditionalmod at September 12, 2008 11:17 AM
I just got eco-friendly/non-toxic strand woven bamboo flooring for under $4/sq ft, and it's terrific. Got it from www.mwanzi.com. Note that most bamboo flooring is in fact not terribly green--full of formaldehyde, grown and harvested poorly, etc., and it's also not terribly durable. If you consider it, go with the strand woven stuff only (b/c you want it to be very durable in a kitchen), and be sure it's nontoxic. I've heard horror stories about the stuff from places like lumber liquidators--off gassing for months... But there are some good companies that make it green. Mwanzi was by far the cheapest I found...
Posted by: tanner at September 12, 2008 11:29 AM
Here's a little article on natural linoleum floors on HGTV site:
http://design.hgtv.com/kitchen/Product_detail.aspx?id=843
That article quotes $7 per square foot I think, but it's cheaper than that on this site:
Posted by: traditionalmod at September 12, 2008 11:51 AM
If you really need to save money, how about installing a plywood sub-floor and finishing it with multiple coats of poly until you are ready for your final flooring? You could even stain the plywood an interesting color.
Posted by: NeoGrec at September 12, 2008 1:24 PM
I find tile-vs-wood to be interesting. Until I came to 'stoner. I always thought tile was better. My last coop had a wood floor in the kitchen (regular strip oak) and it was grungy from getting wet all the time. When I re-did the kitchen, we ripped it out and put tile. I was quite happy with it.
Hopefully I'll be starting the kitchen in a few weeks and I've already ordered the tile (and the kitchen will be big and have all high-end stainless appliances). Be 18" square.
I understand the argument that wood is softer, I just wonder how accurate it is. I do 90% of the cooking in my house, but I also walk into Manhattan every day and around Manhattan every day, I probably average 6-8 miles a day on my feet with a backpack. The pounding my feet take walking is far more than it would be cooking. I don't recall feeling any more tired when I changed my last kitchen from wood to tile.
Of course in restaurants they admit that being on one's feet is tiring and that's why they use anti-fatigue matting, but can there really be much difference between wood and tile from a practical pov? It's not like oak is spongy or soft.
Just askin'...
Posted by: denton at September 12, 2008 4:39 PM
Another vote for cork. We put espresso-colored cork tiles on our kitchen floor as part of our mini-reno and it is still one of my favorite parts of the kitchen! We laid them right over the existing hard-wood floor, which was in fine shape, but clashed horribly with the new light ash cabinets we'd put in. Looks great with our stainless appliances and I no longer dread standing in the kitchen.
Posted by: laurie11201 at September 12, 2008 4:52 PM
I don't think the subfloor only idea is a good one. you'd then need to remove appliances/cabs to put on a permanent floor. I think the cheapest would be linoleum, followed by simple wood strips of pine or oak. We have pine/poly, and it's held up well and was cheap to boot. It helps that we don't wear shoes inside, though. Cork might be more expensive, but again, if you avoid high heels and golf spikes, it should be plenty durable.
My issues with tile floors are more with the grout getting grungy and being hard to clean.
Posted by: Bolder at September 12, 2008 5:06 PM
I had a tile floor & would put on support stockings if I were going to be working for many hours. A resilient vinyl floor is way preferable. Cooking isn't the same on the legs & back as walking on pavement - you're standing a lot of the time, not moving. (It's also a lot more forgiving if you drop something.)
I agree, using the subfloor even temporarily will only result in having to do a new subfloor.
Posted by: Arkady at September 12, 2008 6:05 PM
I have seen kitchens with large black and white tiles placed diagonally and it looks great in the right kitchen.
Also, the old fashioned version linoleum is sold under the brand name Marmoleum
Posted by: mimi at September 12, 2008 6:46 PM
Bolder, that's a good point about the grout, and was an issue in my last kitchen, which I forgot about. It strikes me that the fix for that (since we already are doing tile) is to use the narrowest grout line possible.
Posted by: denton at September 12, 2008 6:54 PM
I put in really large, dark tile with the smallest possible matching, dark grout line possible. I don't like the look of dingy floors in a kitchen. No matter how clean I know it is, once dirty it seems unsanitary forever. To get the tiny grout line though you can't have beveled edges and you have to lay them in rows rather than staggered. But diamonds would work because they are really lined up. When doing major cooking, I wear my heavily cushioned, and supportive sneakers. Also, I do as much sitting at the counter as I can.
I didn't do bamboo (my first choice) because the kitchen leads to the back entry way which will track in lots of dirt. I was told that the bamboo would scratch easily if a pebble got stuck to the underside of a shoe.
Something else to note about tiling in a major reno. Everywhere we tiled, the floor either had to be dropped or raised because unlike any other floor, tile has to be really level. 100 year old houses are not likely to be level. People in wheelchairs or other physical disabilities and older folks might not want to have short steps in their house. So, you might get away with dealing with a possible 2 and a half inch or more difference if you use linoleum.
Posted by: RandiZ at September 12, 2008 7:57 PM
We have wide plank floors in the kitchen, and they take a beating. I've been thinking of cork or something else that I can float on top, just to serve as a sacrificial barrier. Our kitchen is also off the front hall, and leads out to the back yard, so it gets a lot of dirt and grit tracked through (no matter how hard you try).
I thin that large terra cotta tile avoids the "institutional" look - growing up, our kitchen had 12"+ mexican terra cotta tile, with wide joints. The tile was very irregular, with cupping in a lot of places, but that added to the character. The joints (and even the tile itself) discolored, but that too became part of the character.
Wood, or cork or linoleum over wood, will be a lot easier on the feet. But at the end of the day, I think Mrs. Limestone has the right advice - don't choose a flooring based on appliances that will probably be gone long before the floor is. Choose the flooring that goes with your room and lifestyle, and then adjust appliances and cabinetry accordingly.
Posted by: WBer at September 12, 2008 10:47 PM
For those of you who need some foot/leg relief you may want to buy one of the rubber mats that chefs use in restaurant kitchens. You can find them at restaurant supply stores and they are a godsend. I have one and it helps tremendously.
I will say this though. They are a bit cumbersome and even though I stash mine away when company comes it's usually a job left for my husband. They are heavy.
http://www.industrial-antifatigue-mats.com/ultimate-diamond-foot-antifatigue-mat.htm
Posted by: TownhouseLady at September 13, 2008 9:41 AM
I say nay to wood,cork, or laminate flooring in any area that can be exposed to water. Buckling due to swelling,peaking and stains are one of many common problems. On a budget, my choice would be durastone (V.C.T. type tile),or linoleum would be more suffice. H.D. starts @ $3.00 per square foot. With glue and floor patch add another $50.00.
Posted by: premium floor covering installation at September 13, 2008 3:45 PM
I recently renovated my kitchen, put in stainless appliances, white cabinets, butcher block counter tops and white tile back splash. I was torn between putting a wooden floor in the kitchen to match the rest of my apt and a tile floor. My apt is pretty small, so I thought the wooden floor might make it feel more cohesive. However, I ultimately put in black and white tiles, in a checkered pattern across the floor and i love it! It doesn't make the kitchen/apt appear any smaller. It looks great with stainless and picks up the black accents on the stainless appliances. I also used a black grout which I also really love. I cook often and I don't really find standing on the tiles to be an issue. You could also easily get the same look in linoleum.
I find the tiles easy to clean and hard to damage. I would also suggest going to a tile store and checking things out. even though most brownstoners are not fans of Bergen Tile, I got a TON of samples from them to bring home and put on the floor to see what I liked. Even if you don't love the tiles, it's helpful to see what colors you like.
Lastly, I would check with the ppl who are installing the appliances and cabinets. Sometimes it can be an issue with installing the appliances/cabinets before you install the floor. If you are going to have a temporary floor first, you may want to make sure you can change the floor later. This issue came up for me.
Good luck deciding, it's so fun to create something for yourself!
Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at September 14, 2008 11:08 PM
I have large porcelain tiles that REALLY looks like slate. Quite reasonable in price, not so hard on the legs. (Much cooking is done in this kitchen). Also, the contractor went for quite narrow grout lines so there hasn't been a problem with keeping the grout clean, and I went for a grout color that complemented the gray tile (it's a kind of light reddish brown, it doesn't stand out as too dark nor is it too light the way that much white grout is.) I love the look of wood in a kitchen, but I've also seen how grungy it gets if you don't wipe up spills quickly.
A previous poster's comment about just finishing off a sub floor was a neat idea, but I know I'd be happier with a finished floor.
Posted by: Minmin at September 15, 2008 9:58 AM
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